911勛圖

Belcarra Peninsula, Port Moody

t��mt��m穩x妢t��n is a s��lilw��ta��优 (Tsleil-Waututh) ancestral village site located on the Belcarra Peninsula in present day Belcarra Park. This 堯��紳剞梁剞��鳥勳紳剞��鳥剞&紳莉莽梯;(Hun���qumyi���num) place name has multiple meanings including ���lots of land��� and ���the biggest place for all the people.���

From time out of memory t��mt��m穩x妢t��n has been the primary winter village of the s��lilw��ta��优 people, and is integral to the identity of the nation. The village is said to have been home to so many people that when ducks flew low overhead the peoples��� collective shouts would stun them out of the air to be gathered from the ground. People at t��mt��m穩x妢t��n depended on marine and intertidal areas for supplying a large amount of their food; they fished for salmon, smelt, and herring, and gathered mussels, clams, and urchins. They also hunted black tailed deer and black bears. Archaeologists excavating at t��mt��m穩x妢t��n have found wood working tools, as well as Salish wool dog and mountain goat bones, suggesting that people living in the village were heavily involved in wood carving and weaving blankets.

t��mt��m穩x妢t��n has important ties to numerous events in s��lilw��ta��优 history and has associations with oral histories, great warriors, high chiefs or si��em��, as well as spiritual healers or 禳x妢ne��em. Unfortunately, illness introduced by Europeans took its toll on t��mt��m穩x妢t��n. Between 1853-1861, s��lilw��ta��优 people stopped using it as a winter village, and began living in other places. Despite lack of permanent residence, they have continued to use the site into the present.